By the time Sunday arrived spring was long gone. Admittedly the mist had cleared and the Wrekin was visible once more but there were low scudding clouds, a complete lack of sunshine and, as is always the case with this part of the Shroppie, a biting wind which chills to the bone. There were a few foolhardy fishermen out and about but they didn’t look too happy.
We had made an early start and it was just before 8 when we came back through Norbury who were just opening up for the morning, but apart from the people there, and a few people walking their dogs there weren’t many signs of life and we didn’t really see many boats moving all morning.
We did see quite a few buzzards and we also saw two hawks in one of the cuttings but they kept hiding from Kathy’s camera.
We met a couple of boats on Tyrley locks and when were coming out of Tyrley Lock 2 No 4 the engine stopped dead and I couldn’t get the gearbox in neutral. When I started to remove the release bar off the weedhatch the weedhatch started lifting up and I found the reason for the engine stopping was a large log wedged between the prop and the weedhatch. The log simply floated free and I lifted it out and there seemed to be no damage to the prop or shaft or gearbox or engine mountings which is something.
We got back to the mooring just in time for lunch and we spent a bit of time cleaning and getting the boat ready for its big trip in two weeks time before heading home